Posts Tagged ‘professional schools’

Not sure if you should stay in school and plan for graduate school or graduate into a weak job market?

It’s admittedly an understandable strategy. School is what you know. Sure, you might be tired of it, but often people find that what is known and unpleasant is preferred to that which is unknown and therefore scary.

At the same time, graduate school is a major investment in specializing within a discipline or field and typically provides very specific training and research opportunities. Grad school is best engaged in consciously, deliberately chosen and part of a genuine career plan…it’s really not a place to hide out or avoid the question of what you are truly going to do in life.

There are really many paths to graduate school and that’s really important to remember. It is NOT crucial to go directly to graduate school after college. In fact, depending on the program, taking time between college and graduate school to work, travel, volunteer, and gain experience in life, ranges from improving acceptance rates to actually being required.

There are basically 2 schools of thought on this issue:

Many people argue that taking time off of school puts you are risk of never going back to graduate school and you should go while you have the school momentum going for you. Additionally, some career fields cannot be entered unless you’ve earned a graduate degree. Of course, if the ONLY reason you are going forward to graduate school is inertia, it’s unlikely to be a successful and rewarding experience. Weigh out the costs/benefits carefully. Graduate school is very expensive and a huge professional investment. Of course, there are also inarguable benefits to graduate degrees and the career fields they open access to.

Others argue that taking time off between degrees allows people to grow, gain experience, and avoid school burnout or fatigue. Additionally, some graduate programs actually require that people gain work experience or do post-baccalaureate travels or internships in order to be competitive for their programs. Many people who choose to apply to graduate programs later in life make more conscious choices about programs, research them more completely, and find the program to be a more rewarding experience, personally and professionally. This is not always the case.

So what might you do? Well, start with thinking about the following:

Why are you thinking about graduate school? If you are going because you don’t know what else to do in life, don’t go until you are really clear on why you are going and how it will translate into a career. Just a vague feeling that graduate school might be helpful for you is not enough. If you are on a mission and this graduate program fulfills a particular goal in a larger career plan that has been realistically and fully researched, then graduate school is likely part of a good path for you.

How motivated do you feel about school right now? On a scale of 1-10, where do you fall?

If going to school, leaves you moaning and groaning and wishing for something else, than put grad school planning on hold right now. Choose career planning instead. If at a later time graduate school is something that is part of a well-thought career plan, you will be motivated to go back.

If the opportunity to study, discuss, write, research, and work-harder-longer- hours-than-you-ever-have-imagined-working-in-your-life on a life quest makes your eyes shine bright, then graduate school might be heaven for you.

So, if you aren’t sure about whether or not you want to go to graduate school, that’s wonderful. It’s good to ask questions. To not question your decisions at all isn’t good planning. It’s bullheaded and likely to lead to ill-conceived plans of all sorts. Questioning leads to better answers. Better answers leads to better decisions.

If it’s helpful, I question my career decisions all the time. It’s when I can’t find answers that I know I need to do more research. The issue isn’t questioning, it’s not questioning when it comes to great research. And great research is really what graduate programs are about. So, start asking great questions of yourself and those that can help illuminate the way. Enjoy the process…